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. 2023 May 30;11(11):1602.
doi: 10.3390/healthcare11111602.

Locating Medical Information during an Infodemic: Information Seeking Behavior and Strategies of Health-Care Workers in Germany

Christopher Holzmann-Littig  1   2 , David Stadler  1 , Maria Popp  3 , Peter Kranke  3 , Falk Fichtner  4 , Christoph Schmaderer  1 , Lutz Renders  1 , Matthias Christoph Braunisch  1 , Tarek Assali  1 , Louise Platen  1 , Marjo Wijnen-Meijer  2 , Julia Lühnen  5   6 , Anke Steckelberg  5 , Lisa Pfadenhauer  7   8 , Bernhard Haller  9 , Cornelia Fuetterer  9 , Christian Seeber  4 , Christian Schaaf  1 , On Behalf Of The CEOsys Consortium  1
Affiliations

Locating Medical Information during an Infodemic: Information Seeking Behavior and Strategies of Health-Care Workers in Germany

Christopher Holzmann-Littig et al. Healthcare (Basel). .

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a flood of-often contradictory-evidence. HCWs had to develop strategies to locate information that supported their work. We investigated the information-seeking of different HCW groups in Germany.

Methods: In December 2020, we conducted online surveys on COVID-19 information sources, strategies, assigned trustworthiness, and barriers-and in February 2021, on COVID-19 vaccination information sources. Results were analyzed descriptively; group comparisons were performed using χ2-tests.

Results: For general COVID-19-related medical information (413 participants), non-physicians most often selected official websites (57%), TV (57%), and e-mail/newsletters (46%) as preferred information sources-physicians chose official websites (63%), e-mail/newsletters (56%), and professional journals (55%). Non-physician HCWs used Facebook/YouTube more frequently. The main barriers were insufficient time and access issues. Non-physicians chose abstracts (66%), videos (45%), and webinars (40%) as preferred information strategy; physicians: overviews with algorithms (66%), abstracts (62%), webinars (48%). Information seeking on COVID-19 vaccination (2700 participants) was quite similar, however, with newspapers being more often used by non-physicians (63%) vs. physician HCWs (70%).

Conclusion: Non-physician HCWs more often consulted public information sources. Employers/institutions should ensure the supply of professional, targeted COVID-19 information for different HCW groups.

Keywords: COVID-19; HCW; emergency information; health-care workers; infodemic; information strategies.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow Chart—Participation. (A) COVID-19 Informational Needs and Strategies Surveys (Study 1) (B) COVID-19 Vaccination Acceptance and Hesitancy Study (Study 2). Modified from Holzmann-Littig et al. [24,25].
Figure 2
Figure 2
Media usage in physicians and non-physicians, relative frequencies. (A) Online community/social media, (B) other media.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Media usage, Forest plots (A) Odds ratios of survey category Online community/social media, non-physicians vs. physicians, (B) Other media, non-physicians vs. physicians, (C) Online community/social media, non-patient care vs. patient care, (D) Other media, non-patient care vs. patient care.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Media usage, Forest plots (A) Odds ratios of survey category Online community/social media, non-physicians vs. physicians, (B) Other media, non-physicians vs. physicians, (C) Online community/social media, non-patient care vs. patient care, (D) Other media, non-patient care vs. patient care.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Sources of Information regarded as particularly trustworthy for information on medical treatment of COVID-19, Forest plots, Odds ratios for, (A) non-physicians vs. physicians, (B) non-patient care vs. patient care.
Figure 5
Figure 5
(A) Preferred Information Formats Online/and Print Media, relative frequencies, (B) Continuing Medical Education, relative frequencies; both for physicians and non-physicians.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Preferred Information Formats, Forest plots, Odds ratios for (A) non-physicians vs. physicians, (B) non-patient care vs. patient care.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Knowledge test performer status and media usage, relative frequencies.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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